'The Mountain' From Game of Thrones Just Broke His Own World Record by Deadlifting 505kg (1,113-Pounds), and Didn't Even Bleed or Puke

I think that has to be the most impressive deadlift I've ever seen. Admittedly, I haven't seen many deadlifts. But for the most part, whenever I see a video of someone setting a personal deadlift record, the deadlifter follows up his incredible feat of strength by passing out face first into a pool of his own vomit, and bleeding profusely from every hole in his head.

Ok, so I may have exaggerated the amount of disaster that typically follows a way-too-heavy deadlift. But my point is, The Mountain (real name Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, which is why I'll be sticking with "The Mountain" from here on out) looks like he hardly broke a sweat. Even professional weightlifter's like Eddie Hall, who became the first man to deadlift 500 kg back in 2016, couldn't manage to keep his blood in his brain while doing so.

With all due respect to the power lifting community, I'm not sure what I would rather my hypothetical son come home and tell me

"Dad, I'm going to get really into power lifting", or "Dad, I'm going to get really into smoking crack".

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It's hard to say. Hunter Biden made some strong arguments for why crack-cocaine is actually pretty chill. 

As awesome and cool as Hunter Biden looks in his denim shirt as he breaks down the euphoric properties of the world's trashiest drug that doesn't feature paint thinner, there is no honor in being a crackhead. Even the most committed crack-users in the world won't tell you that crack is a good thing. Nobody is proud of smoking crack. So there's always hope that some day your crack-addicted son will think to himself, "What am I doing with my life?", and decide to seek the help he needs and turn his life around. 

But there is honor in being able to lift more weight than any other human being in the world. It takes an admirable amount of hard work and dedication to become a world-class power lifter. They'll give you a medal if the object you lift is heavy enough. As a parent, you can proudly proclaim to a group of friends, "My son is a world-class weightlifter", and you'll be the most impressive parent at the dinner party. Which in some ways makes powerlifting worse. It's a lifestyle that's encouraged.

As an aspiring powerlifter, your jacked son will spend his whole life striving to get bigger and stronger. But he'll likely reach a point where if he wants to make a legitimate career out of it, he'll need to get stronger than his genetics will allow. That's when he'll turn to steroids. But when he's inevitably popped for doping, he'll decide to switch gears and go the powerlifting influencer route. In that world, all that matters is being as cartoonishly shredded as possible. So he'll cook up an anabolic-cocktail of heart thickening substances that he injects into his ass for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Sure, he might rake in $10-15K a month on TikTok. He might get the nod to join Dana White's Power Slapping league and go viral for knocking a Ukrainian man's eye out of its socket. But by the time he's 60-years old, his knees won't work, his brain will be liquid, and the only thing that will make life bearable is a combination of alcohol, painkillers, and an insatiable appetite for classic rock memorabilia. 

John Angelillo. Shutterstock Images.

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I'll take the crackhead son. I at least have a little experience dealing with drug addicts. I wouldn't for the life of me know how to deal with a roided-out adult son who's at all times one derogatory comment away from knocking me over the head and hanging me by his Bowflex. 

Ok I suppose I'm exaggerating that a bit too. I guess powerlifting is better than crack-cocaine. But the world of powerlifting is a bear. For it being the peak of an area of physical fitness, it never looks like an especially healthy lifestyle to live. Unless you are The Mountain. As I understand it, The Mountain came out of the womb at 6-foot-9, 450-pounds. He could probably go a decade without training, then roll out of bed one day and still be able to throw a school bus over a house. Oddly enough, lifting impossible amounts of weight doesn't looks too crazy when this guy does it.